Comcast boosts Internet speeds in Oregon and Southwest Washington

Comcast isn't raising rates now, but the price of Internet service climbed more than 6 percent last fall.The Associated Press

Comcast said this morning that it's boosting Internet speeds for customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington on its most popular plans, offering downloads on high-end services that now top 100 megabits per second.

At that rate, subscribers could download a song in half a second -- or a full-length, high-definition movie in half an hour.

Faster speeds are in growing demand as viewers stream more movies from the Internet, play interactive online games, and join video chats over their computers.

Comcast says subscribers will receive an e-mail or letter when the faster speeds are available to them. Customers must reset their modems to receive the faster speeds.

Here's what's changing now on each of Comcast's three main Internet plans:

"Performance": Downloads up to 20 Mbps, up from 15 Mbps, with uploads up to 4 Mbps. The service costs $52 a month as part of a service bundle (with phone or cable TV), or $65 by itself.

"Blast": Downloads up to 50 Mbps, up from 25 Mbps, with uploads up to 10 Mbps. $62 a month in a bundle, $75 standalone.

"Extreme": Downloads up to 105 Mbps, up from 50 Mbps, with uploads up to 20 Mbps. $100 a month in a bundle, $115 standalone.

Comcast is the region's largest cable TV and Internet service provider, but residents in the Portland area do have other choices.

In the suburbs, Frontier Communications offers downloads between 15 Mbps and 35 Mbps for monthly rates between $30 and $50.

CenturyLink, which serves Portland and Vancouver, offers downloads speeds between 3 Mbps and, in some areas, 40 Mbps. CenturyLink does not advertise its rates and didn't immediately respond to an inquiry on pricing.

Internet customers often find that advertised speeds don't match what they actually receive -- speeds vary to some degree by location and by time of day, due to network congestion. Comcast promises only speeds "up to" certain rates, but says that actual speeds often exceed advertised benchmarks.

Comcast also offers a low-end Internet service for $40 a month with downloads up to 3 megabits per second. Low-income families, with children on free or reduced-price school lunch programs, can subscribe to that service for $10 a month through Comcast's Internet Essentials program.